diff --git a/backend/btrixcloud/operator/baseoperator.py b/backend/btrixcloud/operator/baseoperator.py
index 8351c55d12..75b33dad03 100644
--- a/backend/btrixcloud/operator/baseoperator.py
+++ b/backend/btrixcloud/operator/baseoperator.py
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ def compute_crawler_resources(self) -> None:
         except:
             # default to 1 for now for best results (to revisit in the future)
             qa_num_workers = 1
+            p["qa_browser_instances"] = 1
 
         crawler_memory, crawler_cpu = self.compute_for_num_browsers(
             num_workers, p.get("crawler_memory"), p.get("crawler_cpu")
diff --git a/backend/btrixcloud/operator/crawls.py b/backend/btrixcloud/operator/crawls.py
index c52314d0a5..b9fdd7f501 100644
--- a/backend/btrixcloud/operator/crawls.py
+++ b/backend/btrixcloud/operator/crawls.py
@@ -101,8 +101,6 @@ class CrawlOperator(BaseOperator):
 
     paused_expires_delta: timedelta
 
-    num_browsers_per_pod: int
-
     def __init__(self, *args):
         super().__init__(*args)
 
@@ -127,8 +125,6 @@ def __init__(self, *args):
 
         self.paused_expires_delta = timedelta(minutes=paused_crawl_limit_minutes)
 
-        self.num_browsers_per_pod = int(os.environ.get("NUM_BROWSERS", 1))
-
     def init_routes(self, app):
         """init routes for this operator"""
 
@@ -188,9 +184,6 @@ async def sync_crawls(self, data: MCSyncData):
             is_single_page=spec.get("isSinglePage") == "1",
         )
 
-        if crawl.qa_source_crawl_id:
-            crawl.browser_windows = int(params.get("qa_scale", 1))
-
         # if finalizing, crawl is being deleted
         if data.finalizing:
             if not status.finished:
@@ -259,8 +252,13 @@ async def sync_crawls(self, data: MCSyncData):
                 "starting", status, crawl, allowed_from=["waiting_org_limit"]
             )
 
-        if len(pods):
+        status.scale = len(pods)
+        if status.scale:
             for pod_name, pod in pods.items():
+                # don't count redis pod
+                if pod_name.startswith("redis-"):
+                    status.scale -= 1
+
                 self.sync_resources(status, pod_name, pod, data.children)
 
             status = await self.sync_crawl_state(redis_url, crawl, status, pods, data)
@@ -282,9 +280,6 @@ async def sync_crawls(self, data: MCSyncData):
                 pods, crawl, status, EXEC_TIME_UPDATE_SECS
             )
 
-        else:
-            status.scale = 1
-
         # stopping paused crawls
         if crawl.paused_at:
             stop_reason: Optional[StopReason] = None
@@ -367,22 +362,31 @@ async def sync_crawls(self, data: MCSyncData):
         if crawl.qa_source_crawl_id:
             params["qa_source_crawl_id"] = crawl.qa_source_crawl_id
             children.extend(await self._load_qa_configmap(params, data.children))
+            num_browsers_per_pod = int(params["qa_browser_instances"])
+            num_browser_windows = int(params.get("qa_num_browser_windows", 1))
+        else:
+            num_browsers_per_pod = int(params["crawler_browser_instances"])
+            num_browser_windows = crawl.browser_windows
 
-        is_paused = bool(crawl.paused_at) and status.state == "paused"
+        # desired scale is the number of pods to create
+        status.desiredScale = scale_from_browser_windows(
+            num_browser_windows, num_browsers_per_pod
+        )
+
+        if status.pagesFound < status.desiredScale:
+            status.desiredScale = max(1, status.pagesFound)
 
-        # crawl_scale is the number of pods to create
-        crawler_scale = scale_from_browser_windows(crawl.browser_windows)
+        is_paused = bool(crawl.paused_at) and status.state == "paused"
 
-        for i in range(0, crawler_scale):
-            if status.pagesFound < i * self.num_browsers_per_pod:
+        for i in range(0, status.desiredScale):
+            if status.pagesFound < i * num_browsers_per_pod:
                 break
 
             children.extend(
                 self._load_crawler(
                     params,
                     i,
-                    crawler_scale,
-                    crawl.browser_windows,
+                    num_browser_windows,
                     status,
                     data.children,
                     is_paused,
@@ -498,7 +502,6 @@ def _load_crawler(
         self,
         params,
         i: int,
-        total_pods: int,
         total_browser_windows: int,
         status: CrawlStatus,
         children,
@@ -506,6 +509,7 @@ def _load_crawler(
     ):
         name = f"crawl-{params['id']}-{i}"
         has_pod = name in children[POD]
+        total_pods = status.desiredScale
 
         if params.get("qa_source_crawl_id"):
             cpu_field = "qa_cpu"
@@ -581,41 +585,29 @@ def _qa_configmap_update_needed(self, name, configmap):
 
         return False
 
-    # pylint: disable=too-many-arguments
-    async def _resolve_scale(
+    async def _resolve_scale_down(
         self,
         crawl: CrawlSpec,
         redis: Redis,
         status: CrawlStatus,
         pods: dict[str, dict],
-    ):
-        """Resolve scale
-        If desired_scale >= actual scale, just set (also limit by number of pages
-        found).
+    ) -> None:
+        """Resolve scale down
+        Limit desired scale to number of pages
+        If desired_scale >= actual scale, just return
         If desired scale < actual scale, attempt to shut down each crawl instance
         via redis setting. If contiguous instances shutdown (successful exit), lower
         scale and clean up previous scale state.
         """
+        desired_scale = status.desiredScale
+        actual_scale = status.scale
 
-        desired_scale = scale_from_browser_windows(crawl.browser_windows)
-
-        if status.pagesFound < desired_scale:
-            desired_scale = max(1, status.pagesFound)
-
-        if desired_scale == status.scale:
-            return status.scale
+        # if not scaling down, just return
+        if desired_scale >= actual_scale:
+            return
 
         crawl_id = crawl.id
 
-        # actual scale (minus redis pod)
-        actual_scale = len(pods)
-        if pods.get(f"redis-{crawl_id}"):
-            actual_scale -= 1
-
-        # if desired_scale same or scaled up, return desired_scale
-        if desired_scale >= actual_scale:
-            return desired_scale
-
         new_scale = actual_scale
         for i in range(actual_scale - 1, desired_scale - 1, -1):
             name = f"crawl-{crawl_id}-{i}"
@@ -641,8 +633,6 @@ async def _resolve_scale(
                 await redis.hdel(f"{crawl_id}:stopone", name)
                 await redis.hdel(f"{crawl_id}:status", name)
 
-        return new_scale
-
     def sync_resources(self, status, name, pod, children):
         """set crawljob status from current resources"""
         resources = status.podStatus[name].allocated
@@ -1544,8 +1534,8 @@ async def update_crawl_state(
                         f"Crawl gracefully stopping: {status.stopReason}, id: {crawl.id}"
                     )
 
-        # resolve scale
-        await self._resolve_scale(crawl, redis, status, pods)
+        # resolve scale down, if needed
+        await self._resolve_scale_down(crawl, redis, status, pods)
 
         # check if done / failed
         status_count: dict[str, int] = {}
diff --git a/backend/btrixcloud/operator/models.py b/backend/btrixcloud/operator/models.py
index d98db940d6..944d66a9c5 100644
--- a/backend/btrixcloud/operator/models.py
+++ b/backend/btrixcloud/operator/models.py
@@ -209,8 +209,12 @@ class CrawlStatus(BaseModel):
     size: int = 0
     # human readable size string
     sizeHuman: str = ""
-    # number of pods
-    scale: int = 1
+
+    # actual observed scale (number of pods active)
+    scale: int = 0
+    # desired scale as computed by crawl state (number of pods that should be active)
+    desiredScale: int = 0
+
     filesAdded: int = 0
     filesAddedSize: int = 0
     finished: Optional[str] = None
diff --git a/backend/btrixcloud/utils.py b/backend/btrixcloud/utils.py
index 4dda18792e..9b8935ff48 100644
--- a/backend/btrixcloud/utils.py
+++ b/backend/btrixcloud/utils.py
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
 
 default_origin = os.environ.get("APP_ORIGIN", "")
 
+browsers_per_pod = int(os.environ.get("NUM_BROWSERS", 1))
+
 
 class JSONSerializer(json.JSONEncoder):
     """Serializer class for json.dumps with UUID and datetime support"""
@@ -203,13 +205,13 @@ def validate_language_code(lang: str):
         raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail="invalid_lang")
 
 
-def scale_from_browser_windows(browser_windows: int) -> int:
+def scale_from_browser_windows(
+    browser_windows: int, custom_browsers_per_pod=None
+) -> int:
     """Return number of pods for given number of browser windows"""
-    browsers_per_pod = int(os.environ.get("NUM_BROWSERS", 1))
-    return math.ceil(browser_windows / browsers_per_pod)
+    return math.ceil(browser_windows / (custom_browsers_per_pod or browsers_per_pod))
 
 
 def browser_windows_from_scale(scale: int) -> int:
     """Return number of browser windows from specified scale"""
-    browsers_per_pod = int(os.environ.get("NUM_BROWSERS", 1))
     return scale * browsers_per_pod
diff --git a/backend/test/test_qa.py b/backend/test/test_qa.py
index d6034bc3e3..0fc6e9c289 100644
--- a/backend/test/test_qa.py
+++ b/backend/test/test_qa.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ def qa_run_pages_ready(qa_crawl_id, crawler_auth_headers, default_org_id, qa_run
         if count + 1 == MAX_ATTEMPTS:
             assert False
 
-        time.sleep(5)
+        time.sleep(10)
         count += 1
 
     # Wait until pages are ready
diff --git a/chart/templates/configmap.yaml b/chart/templates/configmap.yaml
index 4e681840aa..a7d2da0211 100644
--- a/chart/templates/configmap.yaml
+++ b/chart/templates/configmap.yaml
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ data:
 
     profile_browser_workdir_size: "{{ .Values.profile_browser_workdir_size | default "4Gi" }}"
 
-    qa_scale: "{{ .Values.qa_scale | default 1 }}"
+    qa_num_browser_windows: "{{ .Values.qa_num_browser_windows | default (.Values.qa_scale | default 1) }}"
 
     crawler_node_type: "{{ .Values.crawler_node_type }}"
     redis_node_type: "{{ .Values.redis_node_type }}"
diff --git a/chart/values.yaml b/chart/values.yaml
index 5f19518684..d51260ec4f 100644
--- a/chart/values.yaml
+++ b/chart/values.yaml
@@ -281,8 +281,8 @@ crawler_browser_instances: 2
 # defaults to 'crawler_browser_instances' if not set
 qa_browser_instances: 1
 
-# fixed scale (number of QA pods) to run
-qa_scale: 1
+# number of browser windows to run for QA (with 'qa_browser_instances' per pod)
+qa_num_browser_windows: 2
 
 # this value is added to crawler_cpu_base, for each additional browser
 # crawler_cpu = crawler_cpu_base + crawler_pu_per_extra_browser * (crawler_browser_instances - 1)